Tag: Salvation

The Greater Joy in the Morning

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He carried so much.  More than “our sins and griefs to bear,”1 He carried the weight, the pain, the inner turmoil, and mental anguish the results of all the by-products of those sins and griefs, upon a heavy-laden heart and mind.  Tears welled inside to the bursting, refusing to fall from the eyes that were singularly focused upon a greater joy.

It was the psalmist who wrote, “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning” Psalm 30:5, recognizing the temporary hold tears and sorrow have, especially when one’s heart is fixated upon a greater joy to be found in the morning.

For Christ, the illness of sin had made its mark on His body and throughout His person.  Yet, in the heaviness of the load He carried, and the pain His holy vessel endured, we are told, “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God” Hebrews 12:2.

Although the joy was there for what it would accomplish, let us not approach the pain He endured physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually in a lackadaisical fashion.  Let us not brush aside what strength of heart and mind this endurance called for.  Let’s not subtract what the man, the person of Jesus felt and suffered at the hands of all these afflictions. 

So heavy it was, and so hard it was, we couldn’t do it for ourselves: “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God” 2 Corinthians 3:5.

The tarnished state of man could never find in himself the satisfaction this heaviness of sin required, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” Romans 3:23.  But in Christ, “ God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God” Romans 3:25. 

Sin was paid in full.  Joy came at the thought and complete process and plan of the redeemed being ransomed from the clutches of darkness.  But let us not be unmindful or take lightly the night afflictions He suffered through before the day dawned.  In it, there was real pain and real sacrifice beyond the scope of what we can imagine.  All for the joy that we might experience a glory unimaginable, where “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him” 1 Corinthians 2:9.

The weight of what Jesus endured could not dim the glory of the greater joy in the morning. Aren’t we glad about it!

He suffered, 
To save,
His greater joy 
Came to our aid,
And satisfied the debt, 
We could not pay.

His joy is complete,
In the sky
We shall meet,
The blessed Savior
Our sins impaled
Hands and feet.

Absent are tears
Or turning away,
Forever with Him
We shall surely stay.
Accepting His sacrifice
Paved the way.

The affliction of sin
Forever is gone,
A holy transformation
Undergone.
Awakening now
A new, joyous dawn. ©Word for Life Says, 2024

1 ©“What a Friend We Have in Jesus” by Joseph M. Scriven, Charles C. Converse

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The Redeemer Shall Come!

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“And the Redeemer shall come to Zion…”
Isaiah 59:20

Ready or not, was what we shouted when we were ready to open our eyes to find those who hid from us in the game of Hide-and-Seek. But today, we are past the times of games. There is no more time for playing.

The Redeemer shall come and those who are repentant, who turn from their transgressions and sins will meet Jesus face to face!

Oh, what a day that will be! The chains and the shackles of this world will be permanently loosed and true freedom will come once and for all. God’s people will rise to reign in victory because the Redeemer has come!

At Jesus’ first coming He was a babe in a manger who grew to become our Savior; our sacrifice on the cross. At His second coming, He’s coming with all the power of heaven to judge: “For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works,” (Matthew 16:27).

For those who remain unrepentant, it will be a fearful time: “And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory,” (Matthew 24:30, emphasis added).

Luke 21:25-28 explains further that it is going to be a time for the “distress of nations, with perplexity” and also of “men’s hearts failing them for fear.” That the “powers of heaven shall be shaken,” then, they will see the “Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory” (v.27).

The end of verse 28 encourages us to, “Lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh!” The Redeemer is coming, ready or not!

The Redeemer is coming for His people. God had long ago established a direct covenant with His people from the time of Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3; 15; 17:1-7).

But Jeremiah 31:31-33 foresees a new covenant that God will write on the hearts of mankind. The “new” that God was doing would not resemble the same as He established with their forefathers. “New” did not mean recycled or upcycled to God. New meant new. A new way of doing things. A new story to tell. A new deliverance to grant to a lost and dying world. New!

The idea behind the new covenant is for restored lives, regardless of ethnicity or background. This restoration will take place when people are made new spiritually. People are made new when they enter into a new relationship with God, through His Son, Jesus. When they do, God forgives their sins. It’s the message behind the Bible, it’s the message centered in the Gospels, and it is the message carried through to Jesus Christ on the cross, the testator of the New Testament, the new covenant (see Hebrews 9:14-22).

At the Lord’s Supper, Jesus declares, “For this is the blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins,” (Matthew 26:28). Jesus was and is the Source of the new covenant, the Redeemer that would take away the sins of the world to those who accept Him:

  • “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name,” (John 1:12, emphasis added).
  • “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus,” (Galatians 3:26, emphasis added).
  • “Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God, (Ephesians 2:19, emphasis added).
  • “Ye are Christ’s!” He has secured membership for you and me. He has redeemed us and set us in place to be called His own. We are now “joint-heirs” with Him, we are connected with Him, (Romans 8:17, emphasis added).

The Bible tells us, “Oh, how great is Your goodness, which You have laid up for those who fear You, which You have prepared for those who trust in You in the presence of the sons of men!” (Psalm 31:19, NKJV, emphasis added). God promised a Redeemer and our Redeemer is coming back! We who belong to Him have something to get excited about!

“For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth,” Job 19:25

Job knew where his trust lies, and we know today, that in Christ is our redemption: “In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins,” (Colossians 1:14).

Victory is ours. New life is ours. Our Redeemer is real and He saves, and He is coming back again! Get ready!

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Enough to Satisfy! | Words to Live By

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The cross, and what Jesus did on the cross, is enough to satisfy and uphold the demands of God’s righteousness against the sin and sinners of today, yesterday, and forevermore.  Nothing else is needed.  It has already been proven that nothing else will do:

“Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:

How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” Hebrews 9:12-14

At the time of His death, all sin, past, present, and future, were placed upon our Savior as He hung on that cross.  It’s what one does with the revelation of the cross for their own life that makes all the difference. 

More Than the Feast of Food

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Today, many in the United States will gather with family, friends, and others to celebrate our national Thanksgiving holiday. A day we recognize when provision had been made for survival and the abundance of the harvest was reaped and enjoyed. We will gather in living rooms, community centers, church basements, around dining room tables, and elsewhere to remember with gratitude and to feast.

While many dishes will be laid out before us today, the greatest dish, if you will pardon the expression, that we can partake of is the faithfulness of our God. “Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed,” is what the Bible reminds us in Psalm 37:3. It is only by what God has done in our lives and for us that we are here today. It is only because of His grace and mercy we are not consumed (Lamentations 3:22, 23). Apart from Him, we can do nothing (John 15:5), and so, let the center of my affection today and all days, not rest on the feast and the gatherings (although we can enjoy them), but on Him whose faithfulness not only brought us to the joy of the gathering around this table, but will usher us to a more glorious table to come: “He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love,” (Song of Solomon 2:4). One day we will fully come into His eternal celebration with uninhibited thanksgiving, gather around and enjoy the marriage supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:6-9), and celebrate with Him forever.

But our forever there states with our relationship with Him here. Today, remember to do more than fill your body with food from this natural feast, but take in more of Him, Jesus, that your soul may be eternally satisfied: “O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him,” (Psalm 34:8).

“If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?

Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?

If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” (Luke 11:11-13)

Father God, thank You for Your faithfulness in our lives and the feasting pleasure of knowing and taking in of You more and more.

“He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.

As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.” (John 6:56, 57)

His holy provision has been made. Come, and join the feast.

Everything Healed

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The world we live in currently bears the scars of the travesty that has taken place. When sin entered, it did more than cause our separation from God (which was the worst). It also caused hurt, disorder, dysfunction, and disease where there was only to be peace, love, harmony, and health.

Our Garden of Eden has become a briar patch of thorns and pain that hurt and hinder where the Word was spoken for good. The truth of this condition is told in Scripture as the Apostle Paul says, “For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body” (Romans 8:22, 23).

When something is groaning it means something is not right. Think along the lines of an upset stomach. People tend to groan and hold themselves tightly to express their utter discomfort at the wrong they feel going on inside themselves. Their body is in pain until that which caused the discomfort is cured and eased.

In the above verses, there is groaning seen in the state of man and creation alike. But the promise for those in Christ is that it will not remain as it is now. Healing is on the horizon. Nature will regain its right order. That which was called good will shine brighter than its original beauty before. And we, my friends, who have experienced and lived through the turmoil of this world, will finally find the ultimate peace and completion of true wholeness.

That which is flesh will be given over to the Spirit. That of the world will dissipate before glory. The enemy you see today, you will see no more for everything will be healed. You will be freer than you have ever been before as the burdens of this life are laid down once and for all, as the culmination of everything we have maintained this hope for comes to pass.

As we carry His Spirit in us today, we carry it with the knowing that our faith, although it has seen many trials, is not in vain. “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (2 Corinthians 5:1).

The promise is there, and the promise is real. Everything not fitted for the purpose of that glorious Kingdom will be done away with. Tears and death, hopelessness and despair, pain, and suffering – all will be passed away (Revelation 21:4). “And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new . . .” (Revelation 21:5). What was wrong will be righted. What was broken will be fully and completely healed as groanings are replaced by glory forever.

“For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.” – Isaiah 65:17

“But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.” – 1 Peter 5:10

“For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.” – 1 John 5:4

A Light from Heaven

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Lord, I thank You for the day You shined Your light into my life. Perfection is far from where I was. I, too, was in a fit of rebellion, intent on getting to my Damascus to do what I was pleased to do.  But one day, You interrupted all of that in a good way. You introduced me to Your Son, Jesus. Humbly, I had no choice but to hear that voice that called out to me and fall to the earth in worship and gratefulness that You took the time to step in the pathway progressing to more sin and spoke in me a life brand new.  

Friends, if you are a Christian, then you have been in Saul’s position. While we may not stand guilty of persecuting the Church, we all once stood guilty before grace.  We were all miscreants without the benefit of mercy. Transgressors while ignoring the truth. On our way to being up to no good, we were hell-bound until Jesus stepped in and saved us. 

Romans 5:8 reminds us, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Who we were, does not compare with what He did for us.  But isn’t that the point? Never would we have been able to pay the debt we owed.  Never could we earn our way to heaven.  Only by “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24) are we able to say today that we are saved, born-again believers, washed in the blood of the Lamb, welcomed as a member of His holy family, and given a new life with a new purpose.  

Sometimes, we absolutely need to remember where we came from and how we got here. It is nothing we can take credit for. But thank God for the day a light from heaven shone in my heart, and He saved me. 

“And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” Acts 9:3,4

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The Confidence of the Cross

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“The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” John 10:10

I hope this great truth never escapes our attention or is put on the back burner of familiarity, dimming the bold message coming from it: for us to gain life, Jesus had to lose His.

But life is now the promise of today and all days, and that day that is to come because of the precious gift our Lord secured for us.

His love for you and me would not settle with allowing brokenness, sin, and destruction to continue to litter the pathway for our existence here on this earth.  No, when He laid down life it was to regain life – when He gave up everything, it was that we may gain even more.

Imagine a love that is so on fire for you that He will go to extreme measures so that you will get to heaven, so that you will get to be with the Father.  He already knew what this was like, and nothing would stop His pursuit to make a way for you and me to experience it too.

Life is the confidence of the cross.  The enemy’s purpose is to destroy life, but Jesus’ purpose is to give everything heaven has to offer, everything the enemy is working so hard to prohibit: LIFE.

“Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:” John 11:25

“In him was life; and the life was the light of men.” John 1:4

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” John 14:6

“He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” 1 John 5:12

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The Gates of Glory

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Your beauty, O God, cannot be compared. I pray for many souls to be able to experience Your gates of glory. To walk through the doorways of heaven and to have their eyes feast on the sight of wonders beyond compare.

I pray for hearts to feel the embrace of love as everything in heaven welcomes them home. I pray for many to know what it is like to leave all the worries of this world outside those doors and to celebrate total freedom from all that tried to hold them down.

On this side of those gates, we can only imagine what that day will look like. But over there, the rich fulfillment of every Scripture-breathed promise will be seen, known, and felt, beautifully overwhelming us with the glory of our God.

Oh, that day is coming, dear friend. All will be revealed, and we will wonder no more. No, because there, we move from wonder to experience and this experience is its own reward.

Father God, thank You that You have prepared such a glorious place for us to dwell with You for all eternity. Beyond those gates, You welcome us into Your heavenly throne room. You welcome us into Your presence forever, no more to be separated by sin, death, and every failing thing this world offered. “In thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Psalm 16:11). Beyond the gates of glory, our souls will take in every beautiful thing that You are without hindrance or obstacle. Beyond those gates is where I want to be, and I thank You for this salvation You have secured for me. It is my heart’s desire for many souls to be blessed to enjoy Your presence. In the mighty and matchless name of our Lord Jesus Christ, I pray, AMEN!

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The Real Gift of Christmas Was Born!

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“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:11

Not displayed in decorated windows.
Nor purchased from the store shelf.
Nay, the only purchasing to be done is
His purchasing you for Himself.

For you, the Savior has come.
For you, the prophecy fulfilled.
For you, heaven’s glory lay in a manger.
For you, born by God’s perfect will.

The greatest Christmas gift
in history to be received
is the truest reason for Christmas,
found in Christ the newborn King.

Were it not for us, He would not have come.
Were it not for us, no storied nativity.
The begotten Son, God in the flesh, 
was born to save us from sin’s captivity. 

December 25th is waited for with hope throughout the year of giving and receiving gifts. But on that holy night, at the announcement of the Lord’s birth by the angel, the shepherds working the sheep in the field knew the real gift of Christmas had been waited upon for much longer.

“For unto you.” Let the beauty of those words speak to your heart. The gift of Jesus was given for you, for us, for me.

God’s gift, wrapped in swaddling clothes at His birth (Luke 2:12), and linen at His burial (John 19:40), was personally wrapped and given for failing humanity.

May we ponder, as Mary did that night, the real gift of Christmas a little more closely this year. I pray that you will feel the Father’s love as He presents this Gift to you for unwrapping. I pray you would know the heart of the Father more fully as you receive His “indescribable gift” (2 Corinthians 9:15) for yourself.

Christ was given, by the hand of God, for all who were, and for all who were to come: “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved” (John 3:17).

For this Christmas, and all to come, no Christmas gift could be or should be cherished more, than this gift of God’s great love (John 3:16).

At the trial of His crucifixion, Jesus spoke these words:

“To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.” John 18:37

The gift was born for you.  

Thank You, Father God, for the personal gift of Jesus Christ into my life. Neither words nor time would be enough to express my deepest gratitude for the Savior. Your Gift has intervened in my life and saved me, helped me, protected me, and blessed me far more than I deserve. My thank You seems inadequate for this season, but humbly thank You, I do, and I praise You for the real Gift of Christmas in my life.

More Reference Scriptures:

“Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” Titus 2:14

“Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.” Matthew 1:23

“And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.” 1 Timothy 3:16

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A Truth You Must Know

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Perfection.  Innocent.  Pure and undefiled is how the world stood.  It was beautifully unmarked and untainted from heaven’s sky to the dirt on the ground.

Then came sin with all the diseases that follow its wrong course.  There was now pain and sorrow, hurtfulness and despair.  Perfection has been injured.  What was beautiful has received a scar.  The world was fallen – utterly torn apart (Gen. 3; Rom. 5:12).

Torn apart from its innocence.  Pure no more. 

Torn apart from its Maker.  What would happen now?

Would He turn away and erase it all?  Could the shattered love that spoke of its good still see hope in the end?

He did. 

God didn’t leave the fallen world without an answer to its depravity.  He refused to forget His love for the ones He made.  He made a choice and had a plan to redeem what was broken.  In Jesus Christ, He had the cure: “Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father” (Gal. 1:4).

We can look around and measure the world by the wickedness we see.  Or we can look at how much grace was bestowed on you and me. 

In the world, we were far from perfect or right.  In the world, we too groped like people in the night.  But His plan shone a light to help us see that this is not the end of the story for us or humanity (Jn. 3:16).

Friend, if you have fallen, may your eyes upon Him turn.  He has not forgotten you.  God is waiting for your return.  There is salvation ready in His redemptive plan.  Something that could never be earned by any woman or man.  But because His love for us is so real, His only begotten Son became our everlasting seal:

“For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;

And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.

And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled

In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:

If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel . . .” (Col. 1:19-23)

When we believe, we are redeemed, covered by the ransom’s cost which His holy and undefiled blood has bought (1 Pet. 1:18-19).  That is the truth you must grasp today.  The question is, will you accept the Gift that saves (2 Cor. 9:15; Jn. 3:16)?

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” John 14:6

“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23

“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8

“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:23

“Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” Acts 2:38

“Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” Acts 4:12

Jesus said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” John 10:10

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